Brook Street Bridge Replacement

Bridge Proposal Drawings

Click on this links to view the proposed plan of the new bridge.

Construction phase

This Authority, subject to further funding, is planning to commence the demolition and construction of the bridge early in the new year.

As the bridge will be constructed in very close proximity of the railway, this Authority is required to work in collaboration with Transport For Wales. This means that this Authority cannot affect the day to day operation of the train service and therefore night time works will be necessary.

Sadly, the alternative to this bridge being replaced very shortly is that it will be closed. 

Programme

These indicative programmes were produced from initial consultation with Transport for Wales (TfW) during the design stage.

NB: The construction phase is still subject to detailed Contractor method statement approval in the Autumn and is therefore subject to change.

Programme 1, shows the Contractors preferred programme where once they commence the bridge construction, the link across the river and railway will be restored as quickly as possible.

Each blue bar on the programme represents a work shift, either night or day, and typically there are 5 shifts a week (shown with 5 bars) throughout the programme. The light blue bars show the day shifts and the darker blue, the night shifts. A typical day shift will be from 8am to 6pm and a night shift from 11pm to 6am.

Night time works would take place between:-

1. Mid January to mid February
2. The end of March to mid April
3. Early May to the end of May
4. Early June to early August

on a 5 successive night basis with two nights off over the weekend.

Day time works will be worked Monday - Friday between:-

1. Mid January to early May
2. Early June to the end of June
3. Early August to mid August

As you can see in order to restore the link across the river and railway as quickly as possible, many night shifts in close succession are essential with the last two months of the programme being mostly night shifts.

Programme 2, offers respite in the succession of night shifts. Typically, if 4 night shifts are worked in close succession then the following 4 nights are not.

Night time works will take place between: -

1. Mid January to the end February
2. Mid April to the end of April
3. The end of May to mid September

on a 3 or 4 successive night basis with 3 or 4 nights off over the weekend

Day time works will be worked Mon – Fri between:-

1. Mid January to the end of May
2. The end of June to mid July
3. Mid September to the end of September

This second construction programme is 6 weeks longer than the first and the length of time the link across the valley is closed off is extended by 4 weeks.

Please note that if Transport for Wales later decide that certain elements of the bridge construction cannot be carried out by day (whilst the trains are running), that 6 weeks could extend upwards to 7 and beyond.

Replacement taxi service

The white bar on both programmes indicates how long the bridge will be out of use and duration of the circulatory taxi service as ‘’the replacement link’’ until the new bridge is open.

For programme 1 the bridge will be out of use from mid April to mid August.

For programme 2, it will be out of use from late April to end September.

During this phase, a bus service (with 16 seater capacity with wheel chair lift and room for one wheel chair) will be provided, transporting those from Nant Gwyddon Close, to Ton Pentre Station (near the Texaco garage forecourt), Ystrad Rhondda Station car park to Llwynypia Station Car park and back again to Nant Gwyddon Close in a continuous circulatory clockwise direction.

This minibus service will only be provided whilst the train service is running and until the Brook Street Bridge Replacement is complete.

The bus service will transport TfW customers to meet the first train travelling southwards at Llwynypia after picking up people from Nant Gwyddon Close first. The bus service will continue in a clockwise direction (taking approximately 30mins to complete a full circuit) until 30 mins after the last train travelling north arrives at Llwynypia finally stopping at Brook Street.   

Once the bridge has been removed -

Those travelling on the train northwards to Ystrad Rhondda

1. who are unable to  manage the station footbridge steps to Brook Street  
2. wishing to travel to Nant Gwyddon Close

will be notified by Transport for Wales on the train that they will need to alight at Llwynypia and wait for the mini bus service in the park and ride to be taken to those destinations in 1. and 2.

Those travelling on the train to southwards to Ystrad Rhondda wishing to travel to Nant Gwyddon Close will need to alight at Ystrad Rhondda and wait for the minibus to take them to Nant Gwyddon Close.

Those wishing to travel northwards from Ystrad Rhondda who are unable to manage the station footbridge steps will need to wait for the minibus at Ystrad Rhondda to take them to Llwynypia or Ton Pentre.

Ystrad Rhondda Railway Station

The railway station will remain fully open during the bridge works but the car park will remain closed for the duration as indicated by the red bar in the 2 programmes.

For programme 1, the car park will be out of use from the end of March to early August.

For programme 2, the car park will be out of use from the end of May to mid September

Once the bridge is removed and the mini bus service is operational, access to the north bound platform will only either be via the station footbridge steps or from the Leisure Centre via the football field.

Have Your Say

It is absolutely essential that this bridge is replaced in the next year but this Authority recognises that there is going to be a fair level of disruption to those who use this bridge and to those who live in close proximity. During the construction planning phase this autumn, the Contractor and this Authority will be exploring measures to mitigate these disruptions as much as possible.

NB This Authority is seeking views only at this stage and other matters may mean that we will not be able to implement your preferred programme.

Any queries regarding Brook Street Bridge, please call 01443 425014 and ask for Lindsay Gauntlett